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"Alberta?! N..no, I thought she was in forensics," spluttered Janet in surprise, as she unconsciously pulled Reb closer to her and stroked her daughter's hair.

"It seems she is a lady of many talents," observed Robbie dryly, making contact with the woman that sat beside her. Alberta felt the heat rising in her face. "She has offered herself as police protection."

"Take it! Robbie you and Ryan be careful!" Janet ordered.

"We will," Robbie reassured her. "The race is starting soon. We'll be safe enough out in the water. In the meantime, Alberta is going to watch our backs."

"Okay, just be careful," Janet reinforced and the two hung up.

"What's this?" asked Robbie holding up the small bone, after she had snapped the phone shut.

"A scaphoid."

"What?"

"A small human hand bone near the base of the thumb. It fell out of a box. I keep meaning to put it back," Alberta observed.

"Jesus Christ!" exclaimed Robbie, dropping the bone on the dash. "And they say my films are blood thirsty!" Alberta raised an eyebrow and gave Robbie a look. Ryan, sitting in the back seat, laughed.

***

Janet stood at the rail, looking across the water to the crowded beach of merry makers. It was such a happy scene and yet there was one speck of real anger out there that was poisoning their lives.

***

Isabella sat in the power boat. She didn't feel very good. Perhaps the heat or the beers they'd had with lunch. She didn't want to say anything to Mrs. Alexandria. She had been a most generous friend and it would be insulting to say that the lunch had made her sick. She wiped a large hand, calloused by work, over her wet face. She had done well today and Mrs. Alexandria was no longer upset that her cousin Pennon had failed. In fact, she was so pleased with her that she had now entrusted her with a very important mission.

Mrs. Alexandria had said that once they had finished here, she would take her back with her to South America and she could be in charge of Mrs. Alexandria's household. Isabella was very pleased. She would write her relatives in the old country and brag.

But first, they had to punish Robbie. She was a very evil woman. Robbie had killed her father and then somehow had framed Mrs. Alexandria for the murder! She had been rude to Isabella too, not letting her run her fan club and embarrassing her by twisting the truth when she, Isabella, had taken her story to the police about the grave. Isabella felt Mrs. Alexandria's plan to scare Robbie very badly was a good one. It was a light punishment for all she had done but if the police would not help, then, it was about all they could do. She felt she was helping Mrs. Alexandria get some justice when the police had failed. Also, she would get revenge for Robbie Williams embarrassing her.

When they had finished here today, Robbie would always be looking over her shoulder, waiting for the next time just as poor Mrs. Alexandria must now live watching always for the police. It was fair justice. Already, Mrs. Alexandria had said, Robbie had hired a bodyguard! So perhaps her cousin Pennon had not died in vain.

"Are you sure you can drive one of these things?" Alexandria said, cutting into Isabella's thoughts.

"Yes, Mrs. Alexandria. My uncle owed a small fishing company on Lake Erie. In the summer, I would often stay with my uncle's family to earn pocket money."

"Yes, yes," cut in the tall woman impatiently. "Now remember what I told you. You must go very fast and go very close to the boat called "Tubby" to swamp it. This is a very good boat. You can get very close and then yank the wheel around at the last minute to swerve away."

"I will not disappoint you, Mrs. Alexandria," stated Isabella, unaware that her speech was slurred. Her head was starting to ache and her stomach was very upset. She was not looking forward to going out in the boat but she would not disappoint her new boss. Her mother, God rest her soul, would be so proud of her when Isabella was head of Alexandria's household. Her mother never was more than Cook's helper.

"I know you won't," smiled Alexandria.

***

"Are you sure you are alright, Alberta?" Robbie asked again, as she sat on the edge of the dock with her legs holding "Tubby's" gunnels to the side of the dock. Ryan was already aboard, sitting on the sole with her back against the bulkhead as she coiled the sheets.

"I'm fine," mumbled the scientist through stiff jaws. "You go have a good race and don't worry. I'll be walking up and down the shoreline to see if I can spot her."

"Well, don't take her on. You already look like you lost a fight with a kangaroo," grumbled Robbie, trying to express her concern for the woman who had somehow become part of her life however unwanted at first.

"Better me than you," countered Alberta teasingly. "At least I know how to fight and not just act like I can!"

"Mom kicked the shit out of the convict that attacked Aunt Janet," defended Ryan. She liked Alberta but Robbie was her Mom and she was one cool lady!

Alberta eyes darted to Robbie's. A message of pain and understanding traveled between them. Robbie reached over and patted Alberta's hand. "Be careful," she said, slipping into the sailboat.

"You too," responded Alberta, giving the dory a push out with her foot.

***

Alexandria put her sun glasses on and lowered the brim of her hat farther over her eyes as she watched Isabella awkwardly maneuver the speed boat out to the lake. Her reflexes would be as slow as her thought process by now, Alexandria knew. And just to be sure of success, Alexandria had filed through the steering cable so that it was only held by a few strands. When Isabella yanked the wheel to avoid a collision with Robbie's sailboat, the cable would snap and the boat would continue on its deadly coarse. When they fished out Isabella's body, they would find that she had been drinking and taking drugs. No doubt to get enough courage to kill Robbie Williams. It was just so beautiful!

Alexandria turned her back and walked away casually. It wouldn't do to be too close to the accident. She had thought at first that Isabella was going to be annoyingly stupid. The woman had argued that she did not want to help Alexandria because she wanted no part of murder. Would not that make her the same villain as Robbie? She had not known when she had recommended her cousin for the job that Alexandria had meant to hurt the children!

But Alexandria had assured Isabella that she had only meant to scare Robbie and her lover. And that she had planned all along to give the children back. It was just a game of cat and mouse to scare Robbie, she had convinced Isabella. Alexandria had carefully explained, to the disenchanted fan, how they would come here and plan a series of mishaps to scare Robbie. It would be their harmless but effective revenge. The slow and revengeful Isabella, had fallen right into Alexandria's plans!

Alexandria smiled. She had never been fond of her children. Robbie had been an accident and the others simply to keep Philly happy. She had particularly hated Robbie. Every time she looked at her oldest daughter, she was reminded that she could have done better than the clumsy and boring Phillip Williams. A giant in business, he might have been, but his dick and his talents as a lover had been pathetically small.

***

Alberta almost missed her. She had been looking for Isabella Selo among the crowds on the beach. It was only in glancing up that she noted the lone figure walking down the dock by the boat rentals. It was the movement that registered in her mind first. The figure moved like a cat, like Robbie. Then the hair and the shape of the long, strong body registered. If it wasn't Robbie, then it was Alexandria! Alberta cursed and pushed through the crowds to try and get closer to the figure that had left the dock and was now milling with the festival crowds.

***

Robbie and Ryan tacked around and came up to the starting buoy just as the gun went off. Robbie pulled the sheet tighter, bringing the sail in closer to the wind. The little craft heeled over and Ryan shifted to sit on the gunnel and hike over the side to keep the boat from having a knockdown.

They shot forward, the water rushing past the hull of their little craft and the wind cracking off the edge of the mainsail. Ryan looked over at her mother with a big grin pasted on her face. Robbie smiled back, her eyes sparkling with excitement. She looked over her shoulder. Ableton had dropped back to third as another boat owned by a summer person had passed him to the windward side and stolen the air from his sails. She grinned and looked back at Ryan. Her daughter gave her the thumbs up.

They came up to the first buoy and cut in close, letting the boom fly across at the last moment. Tubby shuddered, then lifted as the wind filled the sail once more, and took off. Ryan held onto a safety line and now actually stood on the side of the hull, using her body weight as a counter balance to the strong winds they were picking up farther off the shore. She laughed with glee and Robbie, at the rudder, watched the streamers on the mast stays to judge the direction of the wind to get the maximum hull speed from their little craft.

As they crossed the finish line an hour later, they were a good fifty meters ahead of Ableton, who had made a valiant effort to make up the distance between them on the last stretch. Robbie waved to Janet and Reb as they shot past the judges' launch. Looking back at her family, it was Ryan's warning cry that snapped Robbie's head around to see the lifted bow of a fiberglass speed boat bearing down on them. Perhaps the pilot couldn't see them, Robbie reasoned, and tried her best in the last few seconds to tack clear. Robbie launched herself forward at Ryan as the hull of the speed boat smashed down on the stern section of Tubby.

***

Janet had watched in horror as the speed boat had come across the bow of the judges' launch and smashed, with a crack that shook the windows of the cabin behind her, into the small sailboat where Robbie and Ryan sat.

The settling water revealed a debris field of bits of white fiberglass and jagged bits of red plywood. There were no bodies to be seen. She stood dumbly, holding on to Reb, vaguely aware of the pilot giving orders to lower the life-raft.

***

Alberta moved closer as she followed Alexandria out across a green towards a car park on the other side. "Alexandria?"

The woman ahead stopped and pivoted around gracefully. She smiled but the truer emotion in her eyes was hidden behind dark sunglasses. "Now, let's see if I can get this straight. You are my daughter's slut's lover aren't you?"

Alberta curled her lip in contempt. "I'm Doctor Pateas. I'm also an R.C.M.P. Inspector. And you, Mrs. Williams, are under arrest."

The ex-dancer laughed. "Really! Dear me, it is just like the movies. Did my bastard daughter write the script?"

Alberta's eyes turned thoughtful. "Tell me, Mrs. Williams, did you ever know my father, Georgeos Pateas?"

The thin lips parted briefly in surprise. For a minute, a pocket of silence isolated them from the far off noise of the beach crowd and the traffic passing by on the other side of the park. "It is such a small ugly little world, isn't it?" Alexandria responded at last, as she took off her sunglasses and slipped them in the summer bag she had over her shoulder. When the hand pulled back out, a small, snub-nosed revolver was in her hand.

"Why don't we take a ride and you can tell me all about your father," Alexander suggested in a cold, quiet voice.

Alberta tried not to show her surprise. Stupid, Alberta! How did you manage to get yourself in this situation?! "I don't think so, Mrs. Williams. I think instead you should come with me. You are under arrest you know."

The older woman laughed thinly. "You have your father's panache, I'll give you that! It is a shame that I'm going to have to hurt you in order to be sure that you don't inform the police I am in the country.

Alberta watched Alexandra's gun hand closely. "I don't...

A loud crash and screams made Alberta turn her eyes towards the beach. From the corner of her eye, she saw Alexandria raise the gun and reacted before she even thought. She dived to the right and kicked up and out with her left leg. A searing pain gave evidence to the bullet that screwed its way through the epidermis layers of her left thigh.

Alberta's kick had knocked the shot off target but Alexandria still held onto the weapon. The scientist landed heavily on her side and struggled to get back up to her feet. Alexandria held the gun on her, now looking desperate and angry.

"You stupid bitch!" the woman hissed, raising the gun once more. Alberta's hand moved in a flash and Alexandria gave a surprised little gasp. The gun slipped from her fingers as the woman crumbled to the ground. The handle of a knife stuck out of her chest.

Alberta felt dizzy, partly due to the shook of losing blood but mostly at the realization that she had just taken a life. She looked around. No one was paying any attention to them. The crowds were some distance away, milling around and looking out at the lake. Something had happened, Alberta knew; she just hoped it didn't involve Robbie.

A man walked across the grass heading for the parking lot. "Excuse me, Sir," called Alberta, as she sunk to the ground, "could you get the police and tell them there is an officer down."

Seasons: Summer Heat Part 5 by Anne Azel

Disclaimer: The characters of Xena and Gabrielle are the property of Universal and Renaissance Pictures. No copyright infringement is intended. The characters and events in the Seasons Series are the creation of the author.

Special thanks to Pat for her expert knowledge on rescue and firefighting methods.

Thanks also to Sheri for providing the information on the beautiful island of Tobago.

My grateful thanks to the many readers who have traveled with me through the Seasons. You are the best! My deepest thanks to Lisa and Inga, my beta readers, who work hard on my behalf and to Susan for her insightful critiques and for overseeing the character continuity. Lastly, to all those individuals who have written me about their own courageous stories, my respect and my best wishes.

Note: The Seasons stories interrelate and should be read in the order they are posted.

Robbie broke the surface to find herself in a large air bubble beneath the white folds of the sail. She grabbed hold of a piece of the mast and pulled Ryan up close to her. "Are you alright?" she asked, treading water and gasping for breath.

"Yeah," coughed Ryan, reaching out to take hold of the mast as well. "You know, a kid could end up with some deep feelings of social rejection, living in this family. I don't like to complain but this is the third time this year that someone has tried to kill me!"

Robbie was silent for a second. "You don't regret being with us, do you Ryan?" she asked quietly, the pain evident in her voice.

Ryan laughed and reached a hand over to touch her mother's arm where it lay wrapped around the shattered mast. "Mom, I was joking!"

Robbie smiled weakly. She hadn't been very successful at this mother thing, she knew. She only wanted to provide the best for her daughter but somehow things always ended up like this! "Next year will be better," she promised.

Ryan laughed. "It couldn't be better, Mom. This has been the best year of my life. Aren't you having fun?"

Robbie smiled. "Yeah, I've never been happier," the director admitted. "Come on, let's try to get out from under here."

They edged their way along the mast and then dived under the folded layers of sail cloth to pop up amongst the debris. Someone gave a yell behind them and they turned to see a small rowboat making its way towards them.

"You two okay," asked one of the officials, looking worried.

"Yeah, just cuts and bruises. We haven't seen anyone else. Did you pick up the passengers of the power boat?" Robbie asked, as she and Ryan swam to grab hold of the rescue craft. The water was cold and Robbie was starting to feel the effects. She looked at her daughter and saw that her lips were blue and her teeth chattering.

"No. You ladies hold on and we'll pull you over to the launch," the man sitting in the stern replied as he reached over to take hold of each of them. "Pretty cold in there, eh?"

"Yeah," agreed Ryan, through chattering teeth. The shock and cold was starting to affect her now.

Robbie moved closer, cocooning Ryan between her arms and the stern of the rescue boat. Ryan lowered her head to Robbie's arm and they were silent the rest of the trip back to the launch. There, helpful hands reached to pull the two wet sailors up the stern ladder and onto the deck.

"Obby!" called a worried voice and Robbie curled an arm around her little daughter who clung to her tightly. Janet knelt beside her, with Ryan supported in her lap.

"Hi, I hurt," Robbie smiled up at Janet, through the wet hair that plastered her face.

Janet's eyes were filled with tears. She reached out a shaky hand and gently brushed the hair from Robbie's face. "You two have more lives than a cat," she joked weakly. Then blankets arrived and Ryan and Robbie were wrapped up and brought cups of hot tea while the lifeboat and launch searched for any sign of the occupant of the speed boat.

***

The Williams trooped off the launch, Ryan and Robbie feeling warmer and better after an hour's recovery. They both had suffered some good bruising and a few scrapes but were really in good shape considering. Robbie's last second dive at Ryan had pushed the two of them over the side and deep into the water, protecting them from much of the shattering debris.

To Robbie's surprise it was Ableton who was there to help them down from the launch. " Most people just dock their damn boat after the race," he grumbled. "So are you gonna have another craft for next year?"

"Like I'm going to let you win anything again," responded Robbie, rising to the challenge.

"You ain't got a chance next year, queer. I'm ordering the new 822 snowmobile racer and building a new boat. You and Bartlett are going down!"

"When hell freezes over, Ableton!" teased Robbie, as Janet rolled her eyes and shepherded her family along the dock.

A police officer slipped through the crowd and came up to them. "Robbie Williams?" he asked.

"Yes," responded the director through stiff lips. She could feel her guts tightening into a knot. Janet moved closer and wrapped an arm around her lover. Robbie, she knew, still had difficulty dealing with the police after her arrest and imprisonment.

"Could you come this way, ma'am. Inspector Pateas of the R.C.M.P. needs to see you about a matter."

Robbie gave Janet a quick worried look and then stooped to pick Reb up in her arms so that they could move quickly through the crowds. Janet made sure Ryan was close and they followed the police officer towards an ambulance with its lights flashing, sitting near the Community Centre.

Stepping into the community centre, they found Alberta, lying on a stretcher. One bloody pant leg had been cut away and a white bandage covered a wound.

"Shit! What happened?!" asked Robbie. Alberta looked pleadingly at Janet. Janet nodded slightly.

"I need to talk to you, Robbie," Alberta said quietly. Janet took Reb from Robbie's arms and gave a jerk of her head to indicate to Ryan that she should follow. She led the girls over to sit on a couch by a window and wait while Alberta talked to Janet's partner. She wasn't sure what the news was but she knew that whatever it was, Alberta needed to deal with it one on one with Robbie.

From where she sat, she could watch Robbie's face. She saw the shock and sorrow register there and then the caring as her partner reached out and took Alberta's hand. She watched them talk for a few minutes and then the ambulance attendants came and took Alberta away. Robbie followed behind the stretcher but returned a short time later and walked over to where they sat. Janet looked up.

"Alexandria is dead." Robbie stated. "So is Isabella Selo. Her body was just picked up by the police boat." Janet reached up and took her partner's hand, pulling her down to sit with the rest of the family on the couch. It had been hard times for them. But now the hate and secrets that had bubbled for all those years were over. She squeezed her partner's hand and waited for Robbie to tell her story in her own way.

Janet knew later, after the girls were safely in bed, she would need to hold Robbie and help her come to terms with Alexandria's betrayal. They had all gone through so much this year, but Robbie carried the added burden of a mother who was truly evil and a father she didn't know. Janet realized that only in her arms would Robbie be able to find the comfort she needed after today.

***

They walked hand in hand along a beach of golden sand. The warm Caribbean breeze caressed their skin and rustled the greenery of the lush rainforest hills beside them. The waters of Englishman's Bay glistened in aqua and diamonds and lapped softly on the beach.

"I love you," Janet said, smiling up at her lover in happiness.

Robbie wrapped her long arm around Janet's shoulders and gave her a quick hug. "Love you too. Are you enjoying your belated honeymoon, Mrs. Williams?"

"Very much so, Mrs. Williams," chuckled Janet softly.

Robbie had brought Janet here a few months after the funerals of Alexandra and Isabella. It was November and the month when the Hindus on the island of Tobago celebrated Divali, the Festival of Lights. The night before, they had rented bicycles and toured around parts of the island, stopping to marvel at the fields of thousands of small clay oil lamps that lit the beautiful countryside and made it a fairy wonderland. They had got their own lamp and placed it with others to honour the goddess of light, Lakshmi, who brought love and all things good into people's lives.

Robbie had told her about the marvelous Carnival that occurred in March and promised that they would return with the girls to celebrate with the friendly islanders once more. "You just want to see Brian's face again when you tell him you are going back to Trinidad and Tobago and he isn't!" Janet had laughed.

"He was pretty put out wasn't he?" laughed Robbie. "Hey, if I hadn't forced him to cancel his holiday to the islands last year, he might not have been there to put the moves on Gwen!"

Janet had laughed. "You can try that argument, Robbie, but I don't think he's going to buy into it!"

When they had returned to the small, intimate resort of Kariwak after their bike ride, Janet found a collection of items set in a bowl of orchids and ferns in their garden guest house. There was breadfruit, rice and corn, and a small canister containing two lace pillow cases.

"During the Heritage Festival down here, they celebrate weddings in the traditional pioneer manner. The wedding takes place at the old Moravian Church I showed you, and the whole community has a hand in the planning and celebration. These are the symbols that are always present. The breadfruit is a sign of the bride's purity, the rice and corn symbols of the prosperity that the groom will bring to you and our children, and the pillowcases are part of the bride's trousseau, showing that she comes with wealth and is an equal partner in the marriage."

Janet looked up from the bowl with laughter in her eyes. "What a wonderful tradition!"

Robbie smiled and wiggled an eyebrow. "Well there is the "mauvais langue." The bad talk, as the French say! The village Macos are free at weddings to make malicious remarks about the wedding party and the wedding gifts! But it is all part of the fun and no one lets it ruin the good times!"

"Robbie," Janet whispered, moving close to her wife. "Take me to our wedding bed."

***

Today, Robbie had rented a yacht and they had sailed around to the secluded bay. Alone, they had swum and picnicked on the beach and then had gone for a stroll along the shore.

"It doesn't seem like it was just a year ago that I met you in Toronto," mused Janet. "I feel like we have always been together."

Robbie stopped and looked down at the woman she loved. "We are soulmates. Our souls are part of the same tapestry of the universe. We have and always will travel through this world together," she promised.

Janet nestled deeply into Robbie's arms and breathed in the heady spicy scent of her lover. Robbie buried her head in the soft hair that smelt of warm herbs on a summer's day. The sun shrouded them in warmth, the breeze caressed their hair mixing gold stains with chestnut, and the warm sea washed around their ankles. The eternal sea. An eternal love.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16